In the first Jacobite Rebellion (in 1689) a battle took place at the Pass of Killiecrankie.

I had always meant to visit the site but somehow never had until April last year, despite it being only three miles from Pitlochry which we have visited many times.

The Pass is a very tight space between two steep hills on either side of the River Garry. Not an obvious spot for a battle.

The government forces were advancing from the south to remove the Jacobite presence from Blair Castle just to the north and were attacked from the hills by the Jacobites under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse (aka ‘Bonnie Dundee’) scourge of the Covenanters by whom he was later dubbed ‘Bluidy Clavers’.

Such was the lack of space in the Pass the government troops could only line up three deep, firing up the hill.

The Jacobites were victorious but Dundee was killed by a musket ball. With his death the Jacobites lost their militarily talented leader and the rebellion petered out soon after.

In the government soldiers’ retreat one of them was forced to make a desperate jump acros the river to escape capture (or worse.) A path leads down from the Killiecrankie Visitor Centre to the site of the leap.

Soldier’s Leap:-

Video:-